Sunday 11th March 2012

Geeks see code as art and content as stuff. Journalists see code as stuff and content as the art. Geeks may say "provide me content" while journalists are like "build this site." With that kind of attitudes, it's hard to get buy-in from the other side. What coders and journalists should understand: they have more in common than not. Both sides are motivated by their craft and a desire to feel that an audience is experiencing their work, whether though prose or programming. They want to work with smart people on interesting problems. Coders and writers are not interchangeable. Great talent can be an order of magnitude more effective than mediocre talent.Though discussions of case studies from The Washington Post, New York Times, Huffington Post and the federal government, this panel will explain from both the journalists' and the programmers' perspectives how to speak a language they will understand.

Tuesday 13th March 2012

Writing is never going to die. Crafting thoughts into clear and useful communication is always going to be important online. But aspiring writers these days would be smart to enhance their skill set to include online video production. As online journalism evolves into video, writers have a new career opportunity: translating their journalism skills into strong online video production.

This panel will feature some of the best online video producers out there who can share their insights in this nascent field and discuss how to make the jump from writer to video producer. What's worked? What hasn't? What skills are needed most? How many people should be on a video production team? What types of online video work best, and how and where do people see them? How can good online video support media sites and tell a different yet unique perspective.